The present invention relates to a pedicure sock for allowing a user to keep his/her feet warm while toe nails are being polished and while they are drying and, at the same time, keep the toe nails separated so that the polish is not marred while it is drying.
Generally, devices which are worn on the feet during or after a pedicure do not try to keep the feet warm. Some pedicure devices do try and keep the toes separated. However, most simply aim to provide an artificial sole on which to walk while the toe nails are drying.
Pedicure sandals which try to keep the toes separated include Zinkovich, U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,880, Heinz, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 260,047, Williamson, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 271,156 and Perez, U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,987.
Other pedicure sandals may only separate the big toe from the rest of the toes, such as Coito, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 343,947.
Still other types of pedicure sandals do not separate the toes at all. Sandals, such as Greco, U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,669 and Atkins, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 345,045, are ones which do not separate the toes at all.
A principal drawback to the above described pedicure devices is that none offers the ability to keep the user's foot warm to allow the user to walk outside in cold weather, or, even, to allow the user to be comfortable in a pedicure salon during the winter months when exposed feet are likely to be cold. It is undesirable to place freshly manicured toe nails into a sock or a shoe, since the fresh polish is likely to be marred and the sock or shoe may be stained or coated by the polish requiring the use of solvents to remove the polish from the shoe or the sock, risking ruining the shoe or sock by application of the solvent.
In view of the above, it would be preferable that the toe nails are not covered by the sock used to keep them warm. However, there are no socks of this type which have been used or, indeed, could be advantageously used as a pedicure device. Segovia, U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,982, shows a stocking with a convertible toe opening so that the toes can be left exposed. Additionally, Schwab, U.S. Pat. No. 3,329,972, shows an infant's bootie which has a convertible toe construction allowing the toes to be exposed. Four out of five toes are exposed in the stocking or sock of FIG. 2 of German Patent No. 599,494. Additionally, four out of five toe nails are exposed in the strip of material encircling the front part of the foot in Italian Patent No. 256,032. The primary drawback of these socks or stockings is that they do not separate the toe nails such that, if one were to use these socks or stockings as a pedicure device, the polish on the toe nails could be marred by adjacent toes or toe nails, and polish could rub off on the skin of the toes requiring the use of solvent to remove the polish. Additionally, the solvent could get on one of the toe nails, thus, further marring the polish. Another problem in the Italian and German patents referred to is that the little toe remains covered. Thus, the socks or stockings in the German or Italian reference have an additional drawback which makes them unsuitable for use as a pedicure device; the little toe cannot be subjected to pedicure treatment while the sock or stocking is worn.
Other socks or stockings may separate the toes, but keep them covered and, thus, are unacceptable as pedicure devices, since they offer the same problems for freshly painted toe nails as do conventional socks or shoes. Patents on this type of sock or stocking include Craighead, U.S. Pat. No. 1,308,483, Bosworth, U.S. Pat. No. 715,543, Lesiuk, French Patent No. 1,176,074 and Lambert, French Patent No. 472,084.
Hedges, U.S. Pat. No. 1,798,201 refers to using socks or stockings which separate the five toes and enclose three out of the five toes. Two of the five toes are left uncovered so that there is less material between the toes to avoid excessive chafing. However, the Hedges sock or stocking offers the same problems when used as a pedicure device as do stockings or socks which enclose all of the toes.
Baehr, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,129, refers to a garment which exposes the toes and may separate the smallest toe and the largest toe from the other toes. It is unsuitable as a pedicure device because it does not separate each toe one from the other, and because its manner of separation only serves to divide the toes at their respective bases such that the tops of the toes, where the toenails are located, are not separated one from the other. Thus, the fresh polish applied during the pedicure can be easily marred by adjacent toes or toe nails.
German Patent No. 599,494 refers to a sock or stocking having an open slit on top of the toe nail of each of the four larger toes in FIG. 15. However, it does not appear that the toes can fit through these slits. Clearly, the slits are to remain on top of the toe nails, since the garment in FIG. 15 is shown with the toes already inside. Even if the slits were large enough for the toes to fit through, the German Patent does not offer a way to prevent the garment material from stretching out and covering over at least a portion of the toe nail after it has been pulled down beneath the toe nail, thus, risking damage both to the polish and the garment. Additionally, the smallest toe could not be polished, since a slit is not even shown on top of the smallest toe.
Canadian Patent No. 451,979 refers to hosiery in which the toes are exposed and each toe is separately encircled by the hosiery at the base of the toe for dividing each toe one from the other. However, since the division between the toes occurs at the base of the toes, the tops of the toes where the toe nails are located are not separated such that fresh polish may be easily marred by adjacent toes and/or toe nails.
Hearn, U.S. Pat. No. 1,999,929, refers to hosiery with strips or straps between each toe. However, the strips between the toes in Hearn only serve to divide the toes at the base of each toe, such that the tops of each toe, where the toe nail is located, would be in contact with each other. When the tops of the toes are in contact with each other, fresh polish can easily be marred by adjacent toes and/or toe nails.
None of the pedicure devices or hosiery discussed above serve to separate the tops of the toes, where the toe nails are located, to protect fresh polish on the toe nails and, at the same time, provide a covering to keep the foot warm.